Anaesthesia and intensive care
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We endeavored to thoroughly review Greek mythology and collect tales dealing with anaesthesia and myochalasis (paralysis). Among the evaluated sources were the poems of Hesiod, the epics of Homer, the tragedies of the great Athenian poets (namely Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides) as well as the contributions of several Latin writers, including Ovid. We found several examples of achieving hypnosis, analgesia and amnesia through the administration of drugs (inhaled or not) and music. ⋯ We noted that providing sleep was considered a divine privilege, although several mortals (mainly women) exhibited such powers as well. The concepts of sleep and death were closely associated in ancient classical thought. This review may stimulate anaesthetists' fantasy and may help them realise the nobility of their medical specialty.
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Mesmerism had its roots in late 18th century France, but it was not until the 1830s in Britain that it was systematically applied to the problem of pain. The application of mesmerism in the clinical setting was extremely contentious and it was with some relief that doctors turned to the far more consistent results of chemical anaesthesia. However, though mesmerism were superseded by chemical anaesthetic agents in many areas of application, mesmerism continued to have a life during the second half of the 19th century. ⋯ The first of these took place in Hobart in 1890, more than 40 years after many in Britain had declared mesmerism dead. The extractions were performed by respected dentists and, according to witnesses, Waterworth's mesmerism produced the same effects of insensibility to pain as ether and chloroform. With an examination of the continued application of mesmerism after the advent of chemical anaesthesia, this paper will focus on the work of Newham Waterworth in the 1890s and speculate as to why mesmerism might have resurfaced to some appeal in the Australian colonies in this period.
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Anaesth Intensive Care · Jul 2012
Case ReportsLong-term use of nerve block catheters in paediatric patients with cancer related pathologic fractures.
We report three cases of children with osteosarcoma and pathologic fractures treated with long-term continuous nerve blocks for preoperative pain control. One patient with a left distal femoral diaphysis fracture had a femoral continuous nerve block catheter for 41 days without complications. ⋯ The third patient, whose right proximal humerus was fractured, had a brachial plexus continuous nerve block catheter for 36 days without complication. In our experience, prolonged use of continuous nerve block is safe and effective in children with pathologic fractures for preoperative pain control.